Professor Emeritus Edits Volume on Stressful Life Transitions

June 25, 2010

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 25, 2010) —Dr. Thomas Miller, professor emeritus in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, is the editor of a recently-released book bringing together multidisciplinary perspectives on life stressors and adaptations. The “Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan” (Springer, 2010), takes an in-depth look at the many stressful moments of life – from youth to old age, incorporating birth, death, loss, trauma, illness, change and new experiences.

The “Handbook” includes contributions from 56 authors – experts in fields ranging from psychiatry to education, and from biology to spirituality. Twenty-one of the contributing authors are University of Kentucky faculty, staff or alumni. Others hail from a variety of institutions, in the U.S. and across the globe.

According to the publisher, “The modern life cycle is characterized by stressful transitions, when unexpected events - and even many expected ones - challenge people’s functioning, health, and sense of self-worth. The…perspectives provided in [this book] cover these periods as they occur through youth, adulthood, and aging, bringing together theoretical and clinical findings, case studies, and literature reviews in one authoritative volume.”

”This volume provides a twenty-first century examination of some of the most difficult transitions in life and how we cope with the stresses of childhood, adolescence and adulthood,” said Miller. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of the authorship, it provides readers the opportunity to gain the perspectives of physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers and allied health practitioners who bring their knowledge and expertise on how to navigate such stressful transitions in the life span.”

In addition to serving as professor emeritus at UK, Miller is a senior research scientist with the University of Connecticut’s Center for Health Intervention and Prevention. He is also a University Teaching Fellow and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology in clinical psychology, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the Royal Society of Medicine.

The author of 10 books, his research has included cross-cultural studies of trauma in veterans; victims of natural disasters; medical conditions, including HIV; and applications of telemedicine in providing access to care for rural and underserved populations.

Other University of Kentucky contributors to the “Handbook” are listed below, by college and affiliation: